When
traveling anywhere foreign, we recommend that you check out the market
areas of any region or village you are visiting. This is where you can
often find the best bargains, and convivial bartering (haggling?) is
usually quite permissible.

The
largest town in Djerba is Houmt Souk (the heart of the "Zone
Touristique"), and it definitely has its share of hustle and bustle. If
you are driving, be very careful as it seems there are people and cars
careening out from all directions at any given time. On our sightseeing
visit to the town, we took a taxi from the resort. (This was a much
easier option.) The old part of the town is set up in areas like
lanes. Here, shops are selling everything you can imagine, from
traditional Tunisian souvenirs and musty old postcards from the 1970's
to splashy leather handbags and cooking ware! You name it, it is here.
There are also some cute little indoor/ outdoor cafe's where you can
take a respite and have a bite to eat, but don't expect anything too
fancy.

While
visiting Houmt Souk, and any other urban area in Tunisia for that
matter, you will undoubtedly also be witness to an unspoken social
custom. There seems to be a real lack of women walking about in
public! And even though Tunisia is a rather Western-influenced North
African country, the absence of women is surely due to Muslim
tradition. On the contrary, walk a few blocks in Houmt Souk and you
will see hordes of local men hanging out on street corners, drinking
coffee or mint tea, and taking a drag or two from a hookah pipe! (And
boy, do they like to dress up and make sure they are looking nice!)

Set of Drifters tip:
Avoid the morning and mid-day crowds and head to Houmt Souk an hour or
so before dusk so you can actually walk around and feel the pulse! Oh
yeah, and the word "souk" actually means "market," so you can always
count on a market being present when you see this word in Tunisia! This
concludes your first lesson of Souk 101, though you can catch the next chapter in "Southern Tunisia" under "goodies."